Boy abandoned on school bus wanders into desolate area

A security guard on Desire Street is being called a hero by a family whose 6-year-old boy was found wandering alone after being left on a broken-down school bus on Desire Street.

HANO police are investigating to determine whether charges will be brought against the bus driver.

At the corner of Miro and Gallier on Monday night, panic set in for the boy's aunt.

"I was waiting for him to come off, but he didn't come off," said Emona Matthews.

Matthews asked the driver for an explanation, but got none.

"She said they would be right back, but she never came back," said Matthews.

Demonte Beasley, a student at Lagniappe Academies, was missing.

"My heart dropped. As a father not knowing where your child is, it's an unnerving feeling," said Lagniappe Dean Rodney Brown.

For about an hour, no one knew where Demonte was.

"When I woke up, nobody was on the bus with me, because it broke down," said Demonte.

About a dozen students transferred from one bus to another at a Desire Street bus yard after a steering problem was discovered. But neither the driver - identified by sources as Fabyon Walker - nor the bus monitor got Demonte, who was left behind.

"Then I went out the bus, trying to find my class," said Demonte.

Demonte walked out of the yard belonging to BCH Bus Services toward the interstate as darkness settled in on Desire Street.

"Then I was out the gate trying to find my mommy, until I found a security guard," said Demonte.

"I could hear him yelling out for his mother, crying, and I looked up and didn't see anybody," said security guard Craig Preston.

The section of Desire Street is almost desolate at that time of night, and the guard who found the child says he's glad he was here.

"I said let him come over here by me, and I'll call the police for him," said Preston.

"Thank you, he's a hero. Without him, we probably wouldn't have Demonte," said Matthews.

HANO police took the boy in and called a relieved family.

"I think someone would have picked him up, he would have been gone. They had a car that pulled up and tried to pick him up - he would have been gone," said grandmother Theda Beasley.

The school is now looking for a new bus service for its 180 students.

"The safety of our students is utmost to us. It's upsetting to us," said principal Kendall Pitre.

Believe it or not, Demonte blames himself.

"I just need to stop sleeping,” he said.

When it comes to getting Demonte to school, from now on, his family says they'll drive.

No charges have been filed in this case as the NOPD waits for HANO to complete its investigation. We reached out to the bus company, BCH Services, but they haven't returned repeated calls.

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